Some Statistics:
Sexual victimization of children is an enormous problem that is largely unrecognized and underreported!
  • Statistics show that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys are sexually exploited before they reach adulthood, yet fewer than 35% of these child sexual assaults are reported to authorities.*
  • 4 children die every day as a result of child abuse, and 3 out of 4 of these victims are under age 4.**
  • Of reported rapes of children under 12 years old, 90% of the victims knew the perpetrator.**
  • Child abuse occurs at every social-economic level, across ethnic and cultural lines, within all religions and at all levels of education.**
  • 36.7% of all women in prison an 14.4% of all men in prison in the United States were abused as children.**
  • Children who have been sexually abused are 2.5 times more likely to abuse alcohol and 3.8 times more likely to become addicted to drugs.**
  • One third of abused and neglected children will later abuse their own children, continuing the horrible cycle of abuse.**

 

* National Center for Missing & Exploited Children
** Childhelp

Download the pamphlet, "Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse in Pennsylvania"
(3.4 Mb PDF File)